Configuration and management of electronic devices, particularly “headless” devices that do not include any user interfaces for direct user input and/or display, can be challenging to the end users and as well as the manufacturers. Typically, such devices are configured by attaching the device to a host such as a personal computer, which retrieves a device driver by downloading from a website or reading from a storage location such as a CD-ROM. The device driver is then installed on the host to facilitate the communication between the device, the host, and/or a third party system such as a remote server. Such an installation process can be complex and error prone.
One way to simplify the configuration procedure is to certify the device driver with the operating system vendors such as Microsoft® or Apple®. A successfully certified device driver is incorporated into the operating system, so that automatic detection and installation of the device driver can be carried out. The certification process can be onerous for the manufacturer, and different versions of device drivers must be produced for different operating systems.